Older, traditional telephones typically include a handset which includes a large earpiece and a large mouthpiece. The large earpiece is intended to fit around the user's ear such that the use of the telephone is quite comfortable. The large mouthpieces of older telephones is intended to be positioned close to the user's mouth such that the user may cradle the telephone with the earpiece comfortably positioned against the user's ear. The large earpiece and large mouthpiece comfortably accommodates users of varying facial structure and ear shape and location variations.
Early cellular telephones included a housing which connected to a handset. The handset connected with the housing via a phone cable. The housing typically included a cradle for receiving the handset. In these early cellular telephones, most of the electronics and the battery were contained within the housing and only a speaker and a microphone were contained within the handset. The handsets of these early cellular telephones were shaped much like older, conventional telephones and they tended to have large earpieces and large mouthpieces. Thus, these prior art telephones were comfortable for use by persons having different respective facial structures and ear shapes and location variations.
As cellular telephones developed over the years, their size has steadily decreased. This has been partly due to the integration of many of the telephone's electronic functions into semiconductor devices such as digital signal processors specifically designed to process the electrical operations of a cellular telephone. In addition, smaller, more powerful batteries have been developed. This has allowed cellular telephone makers to adopt one piece designs. In these one piece designs, all of the functions of the handset and the housing are integrated into a one-piece handheld unit.
Typically, these one-piece integrated units have a front surface which is relatively flat so as to accommodate a keypad, a display, and several function keys. The earpiece of these integrated units is typically a small, shallow bowl-shaped indention in the front surface. The interior of the bowl-shaped indentation has openings formed therein so as to allow sound from a speaker to be emitted. These earpieces are typically smaller and less contoured than older earpieces contained within handsets. In these integrated units the speaker is typically disposed within an opening in the bottom of the front surface of the telephone. Thus, the user is no longer able to cradle the telephone comfortably against their ear and mouth. In addition, the small bowl-shaped indention is not readily felt by the user. Therefore, the user may not have the speaker optimally located with respect . to the user's ear.
Though cellular telephones have become smaller and smaller, the typical cellular telephone is still larger than a user's pocket. This requires a user to either carry the cellular telephone in a bag or briefcase, or carry the cellular telephone in their hand. However, these methods of carrying a cellular telephone are not as convenient as carrying the cellular telephone in the user's pocket. Thus, cellular telephone manufacturers have attempted to make cellular telephones which will fit into a user's pocket.
Recently, cellular telephone manufacturers have developed designs which fit within a users pocket. One pocket-sized conventional cellular telephone is a two piece design. The two-piece conventional cellular telephone is comprised of a main body and a downwardly extending boom. The boom has a microphone disposed near the end thereof. In order for the cellular telephone to fit into a pocket, and also comply with the size requirements for a keypad and a display, one cellular telephone design locates the boom on one side of the cellular telephone. When a user places the speaker near one ear, the boom extends down far enough such that microphone is at the same level as the user's mouth.
However, as telephones have become smaller, the designs of the telephones have become less "universally" comfortable for the average user. More particularly, some designs are comfortable for some users and uncomfortable for other users. This has led to consumers demanding a product which is more comfortable to use. In response, cellular telephone manufacturers have introduced different telephone designs to meet the needs of the different consumers. However, each telephone design can only accommodate the needs of a small segment of users. Thus, many different telephone designs must be manufactured and stocked in order to accommodate the needs of consumers. This makes the development of different designs of telephones to accommodate the needs of different users expensive and time consuming.
Recently, one cellular telephone manufacturer has developed a telephone design that attempts to accommodate different respective facial structures and ear location variations. This radio telephone design is detailed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,461,672, which describes a slidable earpiece which slides up and down in order to accommodate the respective distance between the ear and mouth of various users. Although this type of telephone design accommodates the respective distance between the ear and the mouth of various users in a single telephone design, it does not fully accommodate different facial structures and ear structures associated with various users.
Much of the perceived comfort that a user ascribes to a particular telephone design is due to the comfort of the earpiece. In particular, it is important to accommodate different sizes and shapes of ears. In addition, it is important to accommodate different user tastes regarding comfort, functionality, and appearance.
Thus, what is needed is a telephone which can accommodate different ear structures and different facial structures. In addition, a telephone which is comfortable to use is required. Furthermore, a telephone which is inexpensive to manufacture and which has a earpiece which can accommodate different user tastes regarding comfort, functionality and appearance is required. The present invention meets the above needs.